Heard Jailed Again

Reynolds' Accuser Still Won't Testify

July 27, 1995|By Peter Kendall, Tribune Staff Writer.

Beverly Heard was returned to jail Thursday when she again refused to testify in the sexual misconduct trial of U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds. Heard, who initiated the investigation of Reynolds by going to police last year and saying she had had sex with the congressman when she was 16, was jailed by Criminal Court Judge Fred Suria Jr. Wednesday when she first refused to testify.

When she was brought back to court Thursday, Heard, in a polite tone, again declined to answer a question about whether she approached Reynolds' black Cadillac when he pulled up and motioned her to come over to him in 1992.

When Suria reminded Heard that it was her complaint that set the wheels in motion that had brought Reynolds and co-defendant Eddie McIntyre to trial, Heard looked up at the judge and repeated in a whisper that she wouldn't answer.

As he did Wednesday, Heard's attorney, Eric Dunham, said she had a 5th-Amendment right not to testify if it would incriminate her. Prosecutors contend, however, that the questions they are asking are not incriminating.

Suria, who has advised Heard that her answers to questions posed to this point would not be incriminating then told sheriff's deputies to take Heard back to the Cook County Jail.